Israeli soldiers disciplined after abandoning patrol to party with Palestinians (VIDEO)
Israeli soldiers patrol the empty streets of Hebron on June 26, 2002, in the West Bank.
Two Israeli soldiers from the Givati Brigade, tasked with fighting terrorism, have been suspended for apparently abandoning patrol on Monday to go dancing at a Palestinian party.
Israel’s Channel 2 reported that the soldiers were drawn inside by the sound of a banging ‘Gangnam Style’ remix.
Soon they were pumping their fists and dancing with the crowd at the Jabara neighborhood dancehall – a work break that was, unfortunately for them, captured on video and uploaded to YouTube.
Video shows one soldier in Israeli Defense Forces uniform, fully armed, bouncing on the shoulders of a Palestinian partygoer.
"The IDF views this as a serious incident,” the Israeli army said in a statement. “The soldiers exposed themselves to unnecessary danger and were disciplined accordingly.”
While the Israeli army did not approve, some praised the soldiers for maintaining a human connection to the community they police.
Writing in the Guardian, commentator Seth Freedman said:
The footage of the wedding dance brings home the absurdity of the decades-old occupation, in which youths from either side are routinely forced into such inimical stances, when in another place and time they might be regularly rubbing shoulders on dancefloors in bars and clubs up and down their shared country.